Couple of month ago I had a few days to spare in New York between the travels. I could't work on a regular projects as I had to leave back to Europe and I just didn't want to waste time doing nothing. I was thinking on how to make myself busy and try something interesting. I just got back from the FORM event in Chicago where I saw the almighty Bradley Gmunk show one of his latest projects he did for Samsung. In this project he took a TV and put laser cut letters on top of it. Then he played animation of the same letters appearing on TV, so it looked like actual physicals letters just got lit up. You can see this project in his portfolio. That was super awesome I thought! I just liked the fact that it seemed approachable, you can do similar thing at home with your TV or a monitor and not go into complex hassle with high end projectors and robots.

I started thinking of giving it a try. I figured if I only have 2 days to spare, laser cut objects are out of question. So before going back home to New York, I went on Amazon and ordered bunch of prisms and geometric glass shapes. I was quite surprised that there's an entire store on Amazon just for physics teachers with objects that help them explain light and how it moves through the objects. Thanks to Prime, all the packages were at my doorstep when I got back.

First, here's the "final" video I put together during those two days. Below I would go into detail on the process behind it.

To start with, I bought two pyramids in different sizes, two prisms and one cube. If anyone is interested, here's the link to Amazon where I got it from.

Next, I started thinking what type of screen I am going to be using. First, I thought of putting my 27 inch Apple screen parallel to the floor and place objects on top of it. The size of the screen would be perfect. The only issue is that I only have one screen to work with and then I wasn't sure of the result, so I didn't want to go "all in". So, I settled on iPad. Luckily all the objects I bought we smaller the the iPad screen, so it seemed like a perfect test ground.

Now I had to figure out what type of animation I want. I started thinking of making an entire world inside the prisms with trees, cars, mountains, buildings and stairs. I spent a lot of time sketching, putting pyramids on top of the sketch book and taking photos to see how it might look like.

Though creating a real illustrated "scene" sounds like a great idea and something I would have loved to do, I just figured that I would never be able to finish it in two days and will spend a lot of time illustrating and animating it without knowing if it is worth looking into. I had to consider timing and find a simpler solution to test out the technique.

For many month now I had thing song on repeat "Ken Tavr" by the Russian artist Ishome. She's freaking amazing and I think I am the biggest fan by the way. So I thought I would try to create a simple music visualizer to one of my favorite tracks.

Since I was using iPad, I created an After Effects animation in 1024 by 768 pixels. I literally had to hold glass objects on my screen while drawing a shape, to make sure it matched in size.

Holding an object in front of the screen was not super handy. Also there was way too much work making a small change: render the file from AE, transcode it, then I had to run it through FincalCut, otherwise the file would not play on the iPad (I am moron, and still don't know why). Then I had to put it on DropBox, download video from DropBox on the iPad and finally play it back with shapes on top of it. Waaaaay too much maneuvering to get some feedback. I needed to see animations real-time.

Then, I remembered about this handy utility app called Duet. Basically it allows you to use your iPad as a second screen. You run an app on your desktop and iPad simultaneously and get to use it right away. That way, I created a separate window of my composition in After Effects, dragged it over to my iPad, and was able to play back animation right away and see how it looks as well as make changes on-the-go. On the photos below you can see the setup.

Now to the animations. For the first sequence and I wanted to animate/illustrate the main beat of the song. I have high hats, snare and base. You can see that I put three different objects next to each other — a large pyramid, a smaller one and a prism.

Sequence 1

In the second scene I start to play with animation inside the object. Where previously all the animated shapes were the size of an actual object standing on the screen, here I wanted to animate something where object is rather a boundary rather than a shape.

Sequence 2

In this scene I am doing two things. First, as in the scene above I am using animated circle where it's animation is limited to a shape that is standing on the iPad, but also light up an actual shape, the moment circle touches the border. And then the second thing here which is interesting, is that one animation connects two different objects and make them interact with each other. Where previously each individual object had a stand alone animation.

Sequence 3

This scene I actually like a lot. Previous scenes didn't use extra animation rather than shape fade in and out. Inside the smaller pyramid I have moving strokes that create some depth by zooming out. And the second animation is for the cube with balls bouncing inside the shape. That looked quiet nice on camera at a certain angle.

Sequence 4

This scene is quite shitty. I was already running out of time and wanted to start shooting, so I didn't get a chance to finish it properly and it is barely used in the video.

Sequence 4

While working on animations I constantly had to take photos of what was happening to make sure light does not bleed with shapes, animation is not flickering and whether it looks nice at different angles. Here are some stills of object on the iPad while testing.

I have a flight in the morning, now I need to start shooting this thing. I had to get creative with mounting my camera straight up pointing down to shoot all the scenes from above first. I used a small tripod I bough at a flea market for $15 long time ago, finally I found some use for it. I taped it to a metal bar that I put in between two chairs. I bought some matte black paper to put the iPad on, so I would have no reflections and the scene would remain quite dark.

Then I was shooting all the scenes again at a different angle. I was still running After Effects on my laptop connected to an iPad with Duet app.

Couple of things I got wrong at this point.

First having a white iPad. Had to do some fixing in post. Would have been better to go with the original approach of using 27 inch monitor, so the black area is much larger.

Not having a macro lens was a mistake. I was shooting everything on my Canon 5D Mark III and balancing between Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L and Canon EF 50mm f/1.4. Both lenses were OK to shoot straight from above, but are not meant for close ups. The closest focusing distance did not allow me to go close enough to the objects to get a nicer and more interesting angle.

Not having ability to light up the scene. I could only shoot in pitch black room, to make the light from the video come through the objects and look vibrant and bright. At the same time shooting in such a dark environment with a camera like Canon 5D I really had to increase ISO up to 800, therefore getting so much noise. I think a proper bright macro lens with a better camera and some extra cold lights lighting the scene would do the job perfectly.

Anyway, I was going for DIY type of video, still was worth a try.

Next up — editing. I dragged all the videos shot in FinalCut and put it together to match the music. Not much color correction here as the camera got the temperature right. Had to increase contrast here and there and get rid of iPad where it was visible or where light was reflecting from it.

Anyway, it was still worth a shot. I learned something from it and next time will be prepared better and will go for something more interesting. Two days well spent!

Back in September of 2015 we were super honored to get nominated and win "Best Agency of the Year" by .NET Awards. Unfortunately due to our work schedule we were unable to fly to London and receive the award during the ceremony. At some point organizers finally e-mailed us ahead of time saying that we won and asked us to record an "acceptance speech" that they would be able to show on the large screen during the event.

To say thank you to all of you who supported us the first year we were in business and voted for us, we couldn't just record "another" video in-front of the webcam. We decided to put some effort into this and just have fun since we had an occasion.

Here's the final video you can check out, but below I wanted to show some of behind the scene photos from making the video.

First, we decided to go to the closest Lowe's store right by our studio in Gowanus to buy foam boards as well as spray paint. I never bought spray paint here in the US, but apparently to buy one, you need to show your ID :S

Initially we wanted to set up a table under the bridge in Gowanus, put some boards with the name of our studio and ask regular pedestrians if they needed a website. The idea was a bit hazy as well as looked like we were homeless. At least we got the boards with paint and headed straight to our rooftop where we shot our fencing photos.

Right on the roof we started spray painting foam boards with signage. We really wanted our signs to appear kitschy, so we went with gold and toxic pink colors. I quickly covered my nice sneakers with pink paint and pats got ruined with gold. It was a complete disaster.

I really should have watched some YouTube videos about how to use spray paint in the most efficient way. I was all covered in paint. Because of the photo above, our video project got a code name "Goldfinger", a James Bond reference.

That second "N" letter being mirrored happened by complete accident. Since we had limited amount of foam boards, I was so focused on not making a mistake, so I just happen to make one.

Now when the signs were ready we went for a walk around Gowanus looking for a nice location to shoot the video. We wanted something scenic and a space that would look absurd for us to be in. Right downstairs in our building there's an awesome car repair shop called "Prestige", even the name is awesome. We started chatting with the owner who happened to be an extremely nice and cool guy named Shawn. Not that he only allowed us to shoot at his garage, but he was totally into the whole thing, hanging out with us, chatting and that is actually him in the last scene of the video who we ask if he needed a website.

It just took two takes! Boom, like a pro. Back upstairs in the studio we patched the video quickly in FinalCut and off we sent it to London waiting for the ceremony to happen.

A month later we received an actual award sent to us from the UK. And the latest issue of .NET magazine with a 5 page spread about us. Super stoked!

We wanted to thank everyone again who supported our new studio Anton & Irene and voted. That means a lot to us!!!

I lived in Stockholm for 2 1/2 years back in 2006-2008. Since then I have been back quite a lot of times, but not in the past 2 years. So any excuse to visit the capital of Sweden is always nice for me. A one day lecture/workshop at Hyper Island brought me there couple of weeks ago.

As you may have noticed, I post a lot of photos of airplanes and airports. It’s easy to explain — I like airplanes and airports (except JFK - that one is pretty shit). Every time I have to fly, I sit on an airline website 24 hours before departure refreshing the page to get a window seat while checking in. I love window seats, mainly so I can sleep and not be bothered by people walking back and worth, but also so I could take photos. I get disappointed if I get a window seat in the middle of the plane, that mean I won’t be able to see much because of the wings.

Especially I like when you board the plane not through the gate, but outside, when you have to take a little bus tour through the airport, ride it under the massive wings of the planes and enjoy the rare views you don’t have access too. Also there’s something special boarding the plane outside through the stairs.

Every folder with travel photos in my Lightroom starts and ends with photos form the airports. For a while on Flickr, I had a separate folder where I would put all images form the planes, to separate them from the rest of photography. Here I wanted to share a selection of photos with aircrafts I took while traveling around the world.

By the way, if you see any wrong airplane naming, let me know here in the comments or by e-mail.

US Airways A319 landing in LaGuardia airport in Queens, New York. The photo was taken from the water in Flushing Bay while being on a jet ski right in-front of LaGuardia runway.

American Airlines B757 in JFK, New York. The photo was taken from the airplane window while landing in JFK.

AirBaltic Boeing 757 in foggy airport in Riga, Latvia. The photo was taken form an airport bus approaching the aircraft.

AirBaltic Boeing 757 in foggy airport in Riga, Latvia. The photo was taken form an airport bus approaching the aircraft.

American Airlines Boeing 767 approaching Kahului Airport, Maui Island, Hawaii. The photo was taken with underwater case while being in the ocean on the North Shore of Maui Island.

United B747 in Narita International Airport, Tokyo, Japan. The photo was taken through the airport window at the boarding gate.

Thai Airlines B747 in Frankfurt Airport, Germany. The photo was taken while being on an airport bus after landing in Frankfurt.

Swiss A330 at JFK, New York. The photo was taken from an airplane window right before take off when aircraft was making a turn to a runway.

Singapore Airlines A380 in JFK Airport, New York. The photo was taken while being on an airport bus getting to an aircraft to board.

Plane landing in LaGuardia airport, New York. The photo was taken from a rooftop in Brooklyn. I was taking pictures of the moon when a plane got in the shot.

American Airlines B757 landing in LaGuardia airport, Queens, New York. The photo was taken from the water in Flushing Bay while being on a jet ski right in-front of LaGuardia runway.

JAL B777 in Honolulu Airport, Hawaii. The photo was taken through the window of Honolulu airport.

Dragonair A330 taking off at Hong Kong Airport, Hong Kong. The photo was taken from far away while being on a "Ngong Ping 360" cable car on Lantau Island near Hong Kong city.

Cathay Pacific B777 in Hong Kong airport, Hong Kong. The photo was taken from an airplane window right before take off when aircraft was making a turn to a runway.

American Airlines B757 in Honolulu Airport, Hawaii. The photo was taken through the window of Honolulu airport.

Plane approaching Lisbon Airport, Portugal. The photo was taken on the streets of Lisbon.

Frankfurt Airport, Germany. The photo was taken while being on an airport bus after landing in Frankfurt.

Lufthansa A380 in Frankfurt Airport, Germany. The photo was taken while being on an airport bus after landing in Frankfurt.

Lufthansa B747 in Frankfurt Airport, Germany. The photo was taken while being on an airport bus after landing in Frankfurt.

Frankfurt Airport, Germany. The photo was taken through the window at the airport.

Plane taking off from Rio De Janeiro Airport, Brazil. The photo was taken from Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio.

American Airlines McDonnell Douglas Super 80 landing in LaGuardia, New York. The photo was taken from the water in Flushing Bay while being on a jet ski right in-front of LaGuardia runway.

JetBlue Embraer 190 at JFK Delta Terminal, New York. Photo was taken right after the take off from JFK.

US Airways A319 landing in LaGuardia airport in Queens, New York. Photo was taken from the water in Flushing Bay while being on a jet ski right in-front of LaGuardia runway.

I have been to Amsterdam and around so many times, but I have never heard about Marken — a fisherman village on the island with population of just 1800 people. But before getting to Marken I stopped at another small place called Monnickendam, just 30 minutes North of Amsterdam.

Monnickendam is a city in the Dutch province of North Holland that apparently was founded by monks. Although it is a small fishing village today, it was an important port in earlier centuries as it received city rights as early as 1355.

Monnickendam

Monnickendam

Monnickendam

Monnickendam

Monnickendam

Monnickendam

Now to Marken. Marken used to be an island that was separated from the mainland by a massive flood in the XIII century. For a couple of hundreds of years it remained separated and due to it's isolation evolved a little differently to the rest of Holland. It had it's own unique dialect, traditions, costumes even some of the architecture was different. Most of the people who lived there were fishermen.

After building the dam in 1957, island became a peninsula and reunited with the mainland. For some time during the later 19th and early 20th centuries, Marken and its inhabitants were the focus of considerable attention by folklorists, ethnographers and physical anthropologists, who regarded the small fishing town as a relic of the traditional native culture that was destined to disappear as the modernization of the Netherlands gained pace.

The idea is simple — you see a random color for three seconds, you got to remember it. Then you have to match the color as close as possible. It is actually much harder than I thought in the very beginning, which makes this game more interesting and challenging. Then we measure the distance between the color that was shown to you in the first place and the color that you guessed and calculate your score.

You have 10 rounds and in each round you can get 100 points max (which is quite impossible), that gives you 1000 points max per entire game. My highest score so far is 834, I was lucky I guess. So get the app and share your score on Twitter via share button, really interested how far people can push it.

About a week ago we were invited to speak at an awesome FROM conference that took place in Chicago History Museum. The event was awesome! If guys decide to do it next year again, anyone who reads this blog should definitely go there!

I was very hesitant going to Chicago in November, and according to all the locals it usually snows right after the Halloween. To everyone's surprise Chicago was sunny and warm (like t-shirt warm). It was my second time there and Chicago, when the weather is nice, is extremely beautiful, vibrant and alive city.

After the take off from LaGuardia airport flying over Queens, New York.